According to researchers, alcohol consumption may increase prostate cancer dramatically. A new study led by Lionel L. Bañez, MD, at Duke University Medical Centre in Durham, N. C. and colleagues suggests that drinking alcoholic beverages may increase prostate cancer dramatically.

Presented at the Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, the study showed that men who consumed 3 alcoholic drinks each week were 2.46 times more likely to develop prostate cancer than who did not drink alcohol.

The team of researchers led by Lionel L. Bañez, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Duke University Medical Centre in Durham, N. C., collected an exhaustive amount of data, which included detailed information on the intake of alcohol from 334 men, who were undergoing prostate treatment at Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center, between 2007 and 2009.

When the investigators divided subjects according to their race that was when a staggering revelation came up.

The researchers found that, with the consumption of the same amount of alcohol, African-Americans were five times more likely to get prostate cancer than Caucasians, who were 85 percent more likely to acquire the disease.

"There may be genetic differences in the way African Americans metabolize alcohol," Dr. Bañez explained about the finding.